Betty Boop

Some of the information is Boop-Oop-a-Dooping full of SPOILERS. Boop-Oop-a-Doop!

Betty Boop

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♥ Betty Boop the Queen of Cartoons ♥

News • Quotes • Episodes • Parodies and References • Filmography • Music • Media • Comics • Fandom • Gallery • Updates • Trivia

Name:

Boop-Oop-a-Doop Girl / Betty Natwick / Betty "Boop" Fleischer^[1] / Nancy Lee / Dolly Prance / Nan McGrew / Nellie / Kitty / La Boop

Birthdate:

April, 1915

Debut:

Friday, August 8, 1930

Gender:

Female

Birthplace:

1600 Broadway, New York City, New York

Nationality:

Polish-American / African-American

Sexual Orientation:

Heterosexual

Race:

White / Black

Religion:

Judaism

Hair Color:

Black / Red-Orange / Platinum Blonde, Gold, Silver (Betty Bedazzled)

Eye Color:

Black / Blue / Green

Occupation:

Jazz Singer / Flapper Girl / Dancer / Model / Movie Star / Impersonator / Centenarian / Zombie / Undead / Nurse / Biker / Office Worker / Pet Store Owner / Waitress / Chef / Judge / Teacher / Babysitter / Racecar Driver / Circus Performer / Bandit / Mermaid / Cowgirl / Shoe Saleswoman / Broadway Star / Princess / Queen

Betty Boop is the main character of the series. She is a fictional Jewish female cartoon character best known for her "Boop-Oop-a-Doop"^[2] and the more famous "Boop-Boop-Be-Doop" catchphrases. The "Doop" is usually followed by a "Bop," something she frequently incorporates into her routine, which is a high-pitched squeak.

Betty was elevated to stardom as the result of public demand.

Betty is a New Yorker and is notable for her spit curls, baby-talk and scat singing. Betty is also known as Baby Boop or Bitsy Boop and on the day of the celebration of Halloween, Betty goes by the name Betty Boo and Betty "Boo" Boop. In online fandom, fan art and fiction there is also alternatively a Black Betty Boop. Black Betty Boop briefly became official in 2023.

Betty Boop is a light-hearted flapper reminding the audience of the carefree times of the Jazz Age. She was the first character on the animation screen to represent a sexual woman. All other cartoon girls of that time did not differ much from animated male characters, with only eyelashes, voice and outfit alterations to show their femininity.

In Betty's earlier cartoons, male characters liked to put moves on Betty, and generally she provoked that. Besides, there was a certain girlishness in her personality, which was emphasized by her style of singing, sentimentality, and overall flapper-like behavior.

The flappers of the 1920s, most notably Clara Bow, were the inspiration for Betty Boop's appearance. Clara and Betty were frequently contrasted, most notably in Hollywood on Parade No. A-8.

Other vintage film stars that the Fleischers used to develop Betty's allure included Louise Brooks, Mae West, Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich.

After the series rolled on, Betty Boop's mannerisms and traits were later based on Mae Questel, who often did the voice on a regular basis, starting from 1931. One of Betty Boop's traits taken from Questel was impersonation which was Questel's speciality.^[3]

Betty's original persona was created by Questel, she later became the most famous, and official of the character. She finalized jazz baby Betty's cadence, conscientiousness and peppy personality.

Questel also served as model for Betty Boop. Animators rotoscoped her as they drew Betty Boop's animated sequences for the animated cartoons. Another known model for Betty Boop was Little Ann Little. Like Questel, Little also posed as Betty Boop while animators drew Betty. Other women who voiced Betty also modeled as Betty Boop, and served as inspiration behind the character's persona using their vampy baby doll image.

Margie Hines 1935 Betty Boop Wikia Fandom

Betty Boop first appeared in the 1930 Talkartoon titled Dizzy Dishes, which was released in 1930. Betty made her debut as a plump anthropomorphic French poodle, with Betty's voice having been created by Margie Hines. Hines created the voice using her "baby doll" vocalization.^[4] The character was retired in 1939, but was later rediscovered during the 1970s.

The cult of Betty Boop fans started building in North America and Europe during the 70s. In 1975, Avon published a collection of Betty Boop comics. Betty didn't quite make an impact until the 1980s. Betty's revival gained momentum in 1985, in which she became an iconic figure of the 1930s.

Since the 1980s, King Features Syndicate has marketed Betty Boop using Marilyn Monroe's image, although they do not credit Monroe as the creator or inspiration behind the character. This is due to Betty being the first sex symbol, predating Monroe in that category, and having Clara Bow's allure. Betty Boop is still very popular today, and has millions of fans all around the world.

Because of her big eyes, and kewpie-doll appearance, she's very popular in Japan.^[5]

Quotes

Betty Boop: "A Paramount and a Betty Boop cartoon mixed for a well perfect program."

Betty Boop: "I've made the acquaintance of '150 Million' people in my '8' years on the screen!"

Betty Boop: "It would take one man alone, three years to make a one reel cartoon of me!"

Betty Boop: "By the way Uncle Max! Did you set aside a trust fund for me?"

Betty Boop: "I'm the tops with the kids!"

Betty Boop: "I know the trick to get people to your box-office!"

Betty Boop: "I'm the sweetheart of your box-office!"

Betty Boop: "I'm every inch a star!"

Betty Boop: "I'm the spice of the program."

Betty Boop: "They say that I can fill Greta Garbo's shoes!"

Betty Boop: "I can balance your programme!"

Betty Boop: "If you have a sick box-office, let me put it on it's feet again!"

Betty Boop: "Don't worry! When your box-office is in my hands. It's safe!"

Betty Boop: "I can make your box-office grow!"

Betty Boop: "I may only be a little girl. But I can do a man-sized job supporting a box-office!"

Betty Boop: "Stick around boys! I'm always cooking up something!"

Betty Boop: "Let me know if your box-office needs jacking up!"

Betty Boop: "I've built up many a box-office!"

Betty Boop: "I'm there in any language!"

Betty Boop: "Don't worry about your box-office, once I step inside!"

Betty Boop: "With me, every week is Paramount week!"

Betty Boop: "I mean, first it was this lawsuit with the Kane girl. I'd never even seen her act. My 'Boop-Oop-a-Dooping' comes from here. Either you 'Boop' from inside or you ain't got it. It's not somethin' you pull on or off like a pair o' six-inch spike heels."^[6]

Official Website

You can find out even more information and updates on Betty at Betty Boop's official website and the Fleischer Studios official website.

Betty Boop Reimagined (2017)

On the 19th of October, 2017 Betty Boop was given a brand new design, in which also changed the shape of her head. The design first appeared in Elle magazine in early April, 2017. Since the new design made its debut, several manufacturers began rolling out products based on it.

The new Betty Boop merchandise is titled Betty Boop Now, and had been in development for the past 18 months by King Features and the Fleischer Studios and the leading design partners. King Features creative team spent the past year and a half researching, refreshing and reimagining Betty. According to Carla Silva, King Features VP and GM, Global Head of Licensing; "As we continue to showcase Betty Boop Now, out licensees tell us they are excited to see that the new look resonates with today's young woman.

With realistic proportions and apparel choice that show her sassy attitude and style, Betty Boop Now is more expressive. She has a wide range of facial expressions and a more animated mouth through which she can voice her opinion and make her thoughts heard. Young women can really respond to that portrayal of individuality."

The franchise was first branded by a Boston-based company called Bare Tree Media who launched its Betty Boop Now iMessage sticker packs in July as a part of its promotional celebration for World Emoji Day.

Tilibra created a set of collection of notebooks featuring Betty. This fall Zazzle began debuting the Betty Boop Now Collection of their website. And Acco/Mead have plans to use Betty Boop Now artwork for the 2019 calendar.

Betty Boop was created by Grim Natwick in 1930, developed by the Fleischer Studios and promoted by Paramount Pictures. She is known as a Fleischer creation because the family owns her copyright.^[7] After the death of Max Fleischer there were many lawsuits over the ownership. King Features Syndicate have helped promote Betty over the years, thanks to their former promoter and manager Ted Hannah, Hannah was able to relaunch Betty worldwide with his campaign during the 1980s. Many decades later the Fleischers were able to reobtain the rights to the IP.

Grim Natwick attempted to sue the Fleischers (after Max had died) in the 1980s for not sharing royalties, but his claims were dismissed because he was unable to provide evidence of ownership.^[8]

Mr. Boop and Mrs. Boop are the parents of Betty Boop. She has two brothers, Billy and Bubby, as well as cousins, Irving, Bucky, and Buzzy, as well as a nephew, Junior. Her grandfather, the inventor Grampy, as well as her uncles Uncle Mischa Bubbles, Uncle Biff, and aunts, Aunt Tillie and Aunt Minnie.

Betty Boop is Caucasian and is Jewish but unlike her parents Mr. Boop and Mrs. Boop, Betty does not follow strict Jewish sects. Betty's mother in the original cartoon is unable to speak English and only speaks Yiddish. Betty's parents are Jewish Polish immigrants.

Betty is a good friend of Popeye the Sailor Man. Popeye and Betty perform a sensuous hula dance together in Popeye the Sailor. According to animation historians, Betty Boop has had a brief fling with Popeye in a lost animated Fleischer short titled Welcome to Miami.

The Fleischers have hinted in gags that Betty frequently flirts with Popeye or that the two are in some form of relationship. Popeye's relationship with Betty suggests that he is cheating on Olive Oyl. In many of Myron Waldman's artworks, he has depicted Betty and Popeye in romantic situations.

In Spinach & Stockings: The Adventures of Betty Boop & Popeye, Betty and Popeye go on adventure. When Betty flirts with the sailors, this upsets Popeye, who forgets that he already has a girlfriend.

Akin to Mattel's character Barbie, Betty's main characteristics are that she can do or be anything. Betty however came before Barbie, and broke the mold.

Actress Margot Robbie who in 2022 portrayed Nellie LaRoy a parody of Clara Bow in Babylon, wore Betty Boop's official 1992 fashion ensemble for the premiere of the 2023 The Barbie Movie.

Betty Boop can play the piano and is a singer, but does not consider herself to be very good. In her official theme song, she says that people can say her voice is awful, but is more concerned about someone taking her "Boop-Boop-Be-Doop" away. At times, she is also able to dance, and even once opened up "Betty Boop's Dancing School" in The Dancing Fool.

Bonnie Poe aka Clara Rothbart Betty Boop Wikia 2022

Betty first debuted in live-action sequences portrayed by Mae Questel in Musical Justice in a 1931 musical and later by Bonnie Poe, in the 1933 film Hollywood on Parade No. A-8. The 1933 short in question pushes the narrative that Boop has similar qualities to Clara Bow.

Betty has an infatuation with men and males, she's mostly attracted masculine men. In her comic series, she's dated a handful of men. Betty explains her love life in more detail in the 1933 article The Love Life of Betty Boop.

Betty's dress is red, her high heels are colored black and her bangles and earrings are colored gold. Her eyes are colored a dark blue. Blue is Betty's original eye color palette in the original series.

Grim Natwick's Betty debuted as a vivid redhead with blue eyes. Betty's red hair was also confirmed by ex-Fleischer staff, historian Leslie Cabarga and voice of Betty, Little Ann Little. Betty alternatively appeared in the 1934 cartoon Poor Cinderella with reddish-orange hair. The Fleischer family lineage retells a story of Betty's colorization process, rather than the true origin of Betty "already" having being created with vivid red hair by her original creator Natwick. Betty is better known for her iconic jet-black hair and light green eyes akin to Sugar Kane.

In 1932, singer Sugar Kane sued the Fleischers for plagiarism. In court, the Fleischers and Paramount used examples that Betty's gimmick had originated in Harlem, and that Betty was more comparable to famous redhead the "It Girl" Clara Bow. Betty Boop won when Kane was unable to prove that she had been plagiarized.

Many decades later Grim Natwick confirmed in many interviews that he and the Fleischers (Max and Dave) had somewhat partially plagiarized Kane's image to create the basis for Betty's debut. Though Kane served as partial inspiration, Betty's image and personality was inspired by a multitude of famous women. This also includes the women who provided the original voice and personality for the character, Mae Questel, Little Ann Little, Bonnie Poe and Margie Hines.

Betty has an affinity for the colors black and red, she wears a short dress, and a garter belt on her left leg.

Her chest area is highlighted with a low, contoured neckline that shows off her cleavage. When colorized Betty wears a red dress and red high heels with gold hoop earrings and gold bangles on each arm.

Her boyfriend, Fearless Fred, and her best buddies are KO-KO the Clown, Pudgy the Pup, and Bimbo the Dog, who was her previous boyfriend.

Betty made her debut in a Fleischer Studios cartoon way back in 1930 as a dog woman. She appeared in the original series up until her retirement in 1939.

In 1938, Sally Swing was going to replace Betty as her successor, however Swing's series "Sally Swing" was unsuccessful at the box-office and was canned.

There were plans to revive Betty in the 1950s by Harvey Comics but the project was canceled.

During the 1970s, Betty made on and off appearances and she briefly made a comeback in a 409 commercial.

In the 1980s, several Broadway musical concepts were revealed. The role of Betty Boop was extended to Bernadette Peters following her performance on Saturday Night Live. Peters was also approached for parts in animated cartoons, but she turned them all down.

Mae Questel was unable to do Betty's voice but returned for a brief cameo for a Walt Disney Pictures feature film, she was later replaced by Victoria D'Orazi, Desirée Goyette, Mary Healey, Melissa Fahn and Cindy Robinson. Since then the character role has been frequently recast by Questel sound-a-likes and voice-matches.^[9]

An official statement by Goyette was: "Betty Boop was modeled after Clara Bow, so if you want to know more about who Betty Boop was, you need to know a lot more about who Clara Bow was. And so as the voice of Betty Boop I did my best Clara Bow imitation."

Betty made a comeback in the 1985 film The Romance of Betty Boop set in 1939, followed up by Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and several One of the All-Time Greats commercials promoting chocolate.

In 1989, a more modernized Betty debuted in Betty Boop's Hollywood Mystery. Cyndi Lauper and Bernadette Peters were considered for the role but both declined the offer. In a majority of Betty's reboot stories throughout the years, she attempts to become a star.

During the 1990s, a deal with Universal Studios was made for Betty to appear at the theme parks. Betty made her debut at Universal Studios Hollywood in 1991, and the M-G-M theme park and M-G-M Grand Hotel. Betty has been portrayed by numerous character impersonators throughout the years, including Diana Rice, SuzAnne L., Angelia M., and Debbi Fuhrman.

The original Betty Boop impersonator for the Fleischer Studios was Russian-American singer and dancer Little Ann Little. Little auditioned for the role in 1932, and started working as a character impersonator and voice of Betty Boop for the Fleischers in March, 1933.

Universal Studios Betty Boop Impersonators

Over 100 talented actresses have portrayed Betty in person.

The Zanuck Company and M-G-M canceled a 1993 feature film The Betty Boop Movie that was scheduled for release in 1994. The part of Betty was won by the gifted actress Mary Kay Bergman, who is most recognized for her work on South Park. Bergman declared that the project had been shelved on her official website.

Even now, Universal Studios Florida, Universal Studios Japan, and Universal Studios Hollywood provide meet-and-greet opportunities with Betty. In 2022, Betty was withdrawn from Universal Studios Singapore, as the license was not renewed.

From 2007 to 2009, Betty appeared in a Nintendo DS game called Betty Boop's Double Shift and Namco video game Betty Boop's Movie Mix-Up.

Throughout the 2000s, Betty has appeared in numerous King Features related commercials, and has appeared on The Rosie O'Donnell Show multiple times.

Betty has been parodied in many cartoons, including Cartoon Network, Disney, Warner Bros. and Comedy Central. Featuring characters such as Bettie Boopie Doop, Googi Goop, Cookie and Toot Braunstein.

In 2010, Betty voiced by LeAnne Broas, appeared in a Dan-e commercial, there she promoted the product Day And Night Energy.

From 2011 to 2015, Betty appeared in video games by Bally Technologies. In 2014, Betty appeared in the video game Betty Boop Dance Card and its several spin-offs, including Betty Boop Beat and the finalized Betty Boop Bop.

Bettybooplovercanceledbettyboop2014-2016

A Syco and Animal Logic film was announced in 2014, only to be later canned. A 2018 animated series by Normaal Animation was announced four years later, and was also canned.

Betty Boop appeared in a documentary called Betty Boop Forever in 2019. The Fleischer Studios and individuals associated with Betty shared their personal experiences with Betty and her legacy.

Betty made brand new appearance in Betty Boop's Cabaret in 2022 with a brand new voice actress. This version of Betty closely followed the original Betty Boop character. Betty also made appearances in Betty Boop & Frens and Guess Originals x Betty Boop.

Casting for the long awaited Betty Boop musical began in 2023. African-American actress and singer Kim Exum led the workshop session as Betty Boop. It was later announced that a African-American newcomer in the Broadway business Jasmine Amy Rogers had won the role because she had the moxie that they were seeking.

In late 2023, Fleischer Studios released a statement denying that Betty Boop is based on any specific individual, they also issued a statement saying that Betty Boop is not a Black woman, and that singer Esther Jones was not the model or inspiration behind Betty's creation.

In a statement they announced that Betty Boop was influenced by "culture" rather than a specific individual, and that Betty Boop is based on no one. They stated that they were offering the Black actress or person of color the chance to debut in the role to break barriers.

Theda Bara, Dorothy Dandridge, Janet Jackson, Devon Aoki, Josephine Baker, and cartoon flapper girls inspired the new look for Betty's new Broadway image.

Betty of The People Initiative Program Fleischer Studios Mark Fleischer Max Fleischer

Betty of the People was launched during the 2020s to help promote and create new diverse Betty Boop merchandise.

A spin-off, the official Black Betty Boop by Shay (Betty of the People) was canned in 2024, due to a dispute. Betty however appeared on the RGB x Betty Boop and Betty Boop x Marc Jacobs projects. Betty has since continued to appear on numerous merchandise, and in animated commercials promoting new-age feminism.

Pioneer Mae Questel was given tribute for bringing life to Betty Boop in 1931, and new accessories and merchandise were launched by Bella Doña.

A 2024 documentary called Cartooning America by Asaf Galay about the Fleischer Studios, Superman, Betty Boop and Popeye won first place in a competition, and a $200,000 prize.

Boop! the Musical features a modernized version of Betty Boop.

This adaptation of the series presents Betty in a colorless world, but she discovers a vibrant world where she and her friends celebrate love in all its forms. The musical offers diversity and introduces new characters, music, and an original storyline.

Betty falls in love with Dwayne, and mentors Trisha her new best friend and successor.

Filmography

1930 - 2025:^[10]

Trivia

Walt Disney's character Snow White has a slight similarly to Betty Boop.

In the 2005 "Betty Bedazzled" collection, Betty Boop has platinum blonde hair, just like Marilyn Monroe. This also included gold and silver hair.

The Original Biographer of Max Fleischer covered the Fleischer Studios' escapades greatly in "The New York Years" and "The Florida Years".

The Life and Times of Betty Boop a book that chronicles the wildly dynamic love and familial life of Miss Boop was released on January 15, 2024.

Betty Boop is a rare NTF in the 2024 "Betty Boop Dance" series.

In 1933, she appeared in the Tokio Shunkodo manga.

Several Betty Boop projects have been in the works some for many years now, but have either been canceled or pushed back for a later release date.

Betty still continues to appear on merchandise, and in the last few years or so, the Betty Boop franchise has collaborated with a number of famous collaborators.

As of August 26, 2022, Betty Boop appears officially as a non-fungible token.^[11]

A balloon featuring Betty Boop made an appearance at the 91st Hollywood Christmas Parade on November 26, 2023. Family Film Awards funded the balloon. The Hollywood Stunt Kids Association wrangled it.

Betty Boop recently appeared in Betty Boop's Cabaret.